Nothing is more important than managing your sales team. The headline says it all — you are in the sales business. That means that you are responsible for managing all aspects of the sales process.

Do you have a sales manager? How many salespeople do you have? What is the quality of your individual salespeople’s results? What do your principals think of your salespeople?

These questions along with many others are key to success in the independent rep business.

Your Salespeople — Your Principals

There is nothing more important than what your principals think of your salespeople. This is an individual salesperson by salesperson analysis.

How can you find out the truth about your principal’s specific feeling and evaluations of your salespeople? Do your principals formally evaluate your salespeople?

Only Core Principals Matter

Remember money talks and everything walks. All of your principals are important, but some are much more important than others. All of your evaluations and management work should start from the top commission line and work down. Any manufacturer that is less than five percent of total commission is not really worth troubling yourself over. You should be questioning the value of continuing to represent these lower commission lines.

Starting your review of your salespeople with the top commission line, how can you get feedback from that number-one principal? This is something that can only be done face-to-face with the key manager[s] of that principal.

Money Talks!

Once again — it is important to recognize that, as the principal of your independent rep firm, there is nothing more important than communicating in depth with these very important principals.

Develop Key Questions

To get facts and be able to discuss the principal’s feedback you need to have three to five carefully worded and easily analyzed questions. If you can structure the answers into a 1-5 evaluation it will make it easier for you to question your contacts and get valuable/usable data. For example:

1. Over-all how would you rate Charlie as compared to other salespeople from all of your other rep firms and within our team?

5 = Excellent — one of the best five reps we have calling on our customers
4 = Very good
3 = Good
2 = Mediocre
1 = We would like to see him replaced

Obviously, any of your people who get a “1” you have to immediately consider immediate termination and replacement with a person who gets a minimum of a “3.”

2. Customer relationships — How would you evaluate the individual salesperson’s relationships with his or her customers as compared to all of the other sales reps you have in the field working with customers? (same scale)

3. Communication — How would you evaluate this salesperson’s communication with your personnel? When this salesperson communicates do you find his or her comments clear, concise, useful and practical? (same scale)

4. Planning — How do you evaluate this salesperson’s planning for his or her territory? Is this salesperson well planned? (same scale)

5. Creativity — How do you evaluate this salesperson’s creativity when it comes to developing new business with existing and new customers? (same scale)

Evaluate the Evaluations

Now that you have discussed your sales personnel with your principal, what are you going to do with the evaluations?

Clearly, any “1’s” are a red flag to take immediate action. If only one person out of 4-10 who evaluate a salesperson gives him or her a “1,” it is subject to much more question than if half or more of the raters say the person is a “1.”

The bottom and top ratings are easier to deal with. It is the middle — 2-3-4s that leave you with a need to develop an individual action plan for the salesperson.

This is where your sales management skills are tested. You have to evaluate the commentary and how you present these ratings to each of your salespeople.

The bottom line is that the results of these ratings and evaluations result in constructive sales management activity throughout your firm.

The goal is an immediate improvement in sales performance — salesperson by salesperson.

Nothing is more important than building the quality of your sales team. We said it before and we’ll say it again — selling is your business!

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].